Fun facts about the lesser known U.S. Presidents

With Presidents Day an annual holiday most celebrated for the fact that most of us get a day off work, we thought it was the perfect time to share some interesting facts and tidbits about U.S. presidents. But we all know about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson, and even James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt are household names. So today, we’ll share some fun facts and trivia about these lesser-known U.S. Presidents:

James Madison (1809-1817)

James Madison was our smallest president at 5’4” and weighing in at only 100 pounds.

James Monroe (1817-1825)

Monroe’s first term coincided with the end of the War of 1812, an era of unity that was called the Era of Good Feelings. Public sentiment was so warm and fuzzy that Monroe ran unopposed for his re-election, something that only happened one other time in U.S. history, with George Washington.

John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)

The son of a president, John Quincy Adams went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River every morning.

Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)

Van Buren was the first U.S. president born in the United States!

John Tyler (1841-1845)

John Tyler fathered 15 children, more than any other U.S. president!

James K. Polk (1845-1849)

Polk banned the consumption of alcohol, gambling, and card playing, and even dancing from the White House!

Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)

Zachary Taylor had been a major general in the U.S. Army and hero of the Mexican-American War, but it was bacteria from some cherries he ate that led to his death five days later, on July 4, 1850.

Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)

Fillmore married his schoolteacher, Abigail Powers, who instructed him at the New Hope Academy in New York when he was 19-years old.

Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)

While he was president, Pierce was arrested for running over a woman with his horse, but charges were later dropped because of a lack of evidence.

 Pierce was also so unpopular during his first (and only) term as president that his own party didn’t re-nominate him to run again, leading him to reflect that “There is nothing left to do but get drunk.”

Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

Johnson was the first U.S. president to be impeached.

James A. Garfield (1881)

James Garfield was shot by an assassin only a few months into his presidency. He passed away 11 weeks later but not after doctors worked tirelessly to save his life with a new medical device – a metal detector that was supposed to locate the bullet in his body - invented by Andrew Graham Bell. However, the metal detector kept going off because of the metal bedsprings beneath him, so the surgeons kept cutting him open in the wrong places, contributing to his demise.

Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)

Hayes became president only after possibly the most disputed election in U.S. history, losing the popular vote by 25,000 but winning the Electoral College by one single vote.

Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885)

When Arthur wanted to redecorate the White House but there was no money in the budget, he simply started selling off historical relics to fund his project. In fact, “Elegant Arthur” pawned off 24 wagon loads of historical items in all, including a pair of Abe Lincoln’s pants and one of John Quincy Adams’ hats.

Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)

When his law partner passed away, Cleveland became a legal guardian to his 11-year old orphaned daughter. They actually wed 10 years later, making her quite a controversial First Lady – and the youngest ever – at only 21 years old.

Grover Cleveland (again) (1893-1897)

Grover, again? Cleveland holds the distinction of being the only U.S. president to hold office for two non-consecutive terms.

Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)

The grandson of President William Henry Harrison, Benjamin was the first president to enjoy electricity in the White House during his tenure. However, he was so scared of being electrocuted that he wouldn’t dare touch the light switches, sleeping with the lights on when he went to bed.

William McKinley (1897-1901)

McKinley had an unusual good luck charm – carnations, which he wore them at all times. However, on September 6, 1901, he gave his carnation to a little girl in the crowd, leaving him without his lucky charm. He was shot by an assassin shortly after and died the next week.

William H. Taft   (1909-1913)

The historically portly Taft inspired a line of stuffed possum toys called Billy Possum, named him because he once ate a huge possum for dinner.

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

Wilson suffered a series of strokes in 1919 due to the stress of the presidency. He was rendered partially paralyzed and nearly blind, and only managed to stay in office and serve until 1921 with some serious help from his wife, who was nicknamed “the Presidentress.”

Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)

Harding had an affair with the close friend of his wife, Carrie Fulton Phillips. He was caught not through text messages or Facebook, but by the many love letters he wrote her.

Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)

Every morning, Coolidge would have someone rub Vaseline on his head while he ate breakfast – a bizarre ritual!

Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

Hoover’s son kept not one but two pet alligators that roamed around the White House lawn and grounds.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)

Johnson might have been the luckiest president, and not only because JFK’s assassination led to his term as president. In fact, when Johnson was serving in WWII he was set to board a plane, the Wabash Cannonball, for a bombing mission in the South Pacific. When he went to the bathroom and came out, the plane had left him behind. The Wabash Cannonball ended up crashing, with everyone on it dying.

Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977)

Gerald Ford’s real name was Leslie Lynch King, Jr. – not very presidential! He also is the only president not to become president or even vice president by public vote, since VP Spiro Agnew resigned, and then followed shortly by the Nixon’s resignation.

15 Crazy (And Surprisingly Accurate) Predictors of The Next U.S. President. (Part 2)

Who will be elected the next U.S. President? In part one of this blog, we outlined the first seven highly unconventional methods of predicting who will be the 44th Commander in Chief of these United States. Here are the next eight:

8. The Redskins Rule:
Apparently, the football team in the nation’s capital is a precise predictor of U.S. presidents. If the Redskins win their last home game of the season before Election Day, then the incumbent party will win. Incredibly, it’s worked for every single election since 1940, with only one exception.

In 2004, the Packers beat the Redskins in the final home game before the election, but President George W. Bush won and retained his presidency, but remember that he’d actually lost the popular vote in 2000, when a Supreme Court ruling over a Florida recount awarded him the Presidency. So if we look at the popular vote, not just who wins, then the Redskin Rule holds up a perfect 18-0.

Accuracy: Solid as oak
Prediction: The Redskins are pretty bad, so a Republican will probably win

9. The 7-Eleven Cup Rule:
7-Eleven, the popular convenience store, offers custom coffee cups every election season, allowing customers to choose a cup from the party they want to see in office. In the last four elections, the presidential candidate who was chosen most on a 7-Eleven cup, won.

Accuracy: As consistent as morning coffee
Prediction: TBD

10. The World Series Rule:
This one is pretty simply – if the American League wins baseball’s World Series, a Republican will win that year’s Presidential election, But if a National League team hoists the World Series banner, the Democrats are in for a victory.

Accuracy: The best analytic since “Sabermetrics”
Prediction: Who will win in 2016? The American League Royals won in 2015, but the NL’s Dodgers, Cubs, or Mets have the best odds of winning in 2016, according to Vegas predictions. If that’s the case, then our next President will be a Democrat.

11. The vote in Vigo County Rule:
Since 1956, the way that little Vigo County, Indiana votes has predicted the U.S. presidential election every time. In fact, their results are surprisingly accurate – within 3% of the popular vote – and the trend of Vigo as a prognosticator goes all the way back to 1892 with only two exceptions.

Accuracy: Bet the farm on it
Prediction: TBD!

12. The Candidate Height Rule:
This is amazing (and scary!): since 1900, the taller Presidential candidate has won every election with only eight exceptions. Most recently, the 6’1” Obama beat John McCain (5’6”) in 2008 but also beat a taller Mitt Romney (6’2”) in 2012, leading us to wonder if Romney wears 1”+ lifts in his black wingtips? .

Accuracy: Meh
Prediction: Donald Trump is 6’2” and Hillary Clinton is not

13. The Last Name Rule:
If we go back to 1900, the Presidential candidate with the most letters in his last name has won 16 times and lost only 8.

Accuracy: Sports betters and gamblers wish they had a two-thirds success rate
Prediction: For the Republicans, Trump (5), Bush (4), and Paul (4) aren’t looking good, but Huckabee (8) and Santorum (8) have a good shot to beat Clinton (7) or Sanders (7)

14. The Summer Olympics Rule:
Just like U.S. Presidential elections, the Summer Olympics happen every four years – but is there a correlation? In fact, in the last 13 out of 14 Summer Olympics, a precedent has been set that predicts our next President. If the host country has previously hosted a Summer Olympics, the incumbent party has won the election. Only Japan’s hosting of the 1964 Summer Olympics bucks this rule…BUT…Japan had been awarded the 1940 Summer Olympics but they were cancelled because of WWII, so it can be almost justified as 14 out of 14 wins

Accuracy: 95%
Prediction: The Summer Olympics are being hosted in Brazil in 2016 for the first time…which means a Republican is sure to win.

15. The First Lady Cookie Recipe Rule:
Finally, we’re getting down to some really scientific methods of predicting the next U.S. President with…cookie recipes? The popular home magazine “Family Circle” has published a favorite cookie recipe from each of the Presidential candidate’s wives since 1992, with readers voting for their favorite tasty treat. So far, Hillary Clinton over Barbara Bush and Elizabeth Dole, Laura Bush over Tipper Gore and Teresa Heinz Kerry, and Michelle Obama over Cindy McCain and Ann Romney have held up flawlessly,

Accuracy: 100%
Prediction: Bill Clinton can’t bake (pun very much intended), so we’ll say that the wife of a Republican will have a better recipe – and become the First Lady.